Tuatha Dé Danann

/tooh"euh heuh day dah"neuhn/, Irish Legend.

a race of gods or demigods who defeated the Fomorians and ruled Ireland during a golden age.

Also, Tuatha dé Danaan, Tuatha Dé.

* * *

In Celtic mythology, a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians, the ancestors of the modern Irish.

Skilled in magic, they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge and descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. They were regarded as actual people by native historians up to the 17th century. Representative of the Celtic pantheon, they have become associated in popular legend with the numerous fairies still said to inhabit the Irish landscape.

* * *

▪ Celtic mythology

      (Gaelic: “People of the Goddess Danu”), in Celtic mythology, a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge, they descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. The Leabhar Gabhála (Book of Invasions), a fictitious history of Ireland from the earliest times, treats them as actual people, and they were so regarded by native historians up to the 17th century. In popular legend they have become associated with the numerous fairies still supposed to inhabit the Irish landscape.

* * *